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Carroll County commissioner seeks to remove colleagues seeking to remove her from office

OSSIPEE — In an unusual turnabout, Asha Kenney, the District 3 representative on the Carroll County Commission whose colleagues are attempting to remove her for alleged unprofessional behavior, has filed a reply that seeks to have them removed instead for “actions in violation of their duties.”

On June 4, District 1 Commissioner Dave Sorensen of Eaton Center, chairman of the Carroll County Commission, and District 2 Commissioner Dave Babson of Ossipee, filed a complaint in Carroll County Superior Court against Kenney alleging that she engaged in “repeated conduct unbecoming of an elect (sic) public official, unethical, unprofessional and unrepresentative of the will of the board of the Carroll County commissioners.”

The complaint further alleges that Kenney continually and unceasingly insulted, threatened and ridiculed county employees, vendors and contractors; that her actions were wilful and were intended to cause injury and that she released information from on-public sessions.

The lawsuit cites a complaint made at the county commissioner’s June 4 meeting by a county employee who said that Kenney on May 28 launched into a 45-minute “tirade” against her in the county’s business office during which Kenney, it is claimed, said, among other things, that the employee’s twin sister murdered her mother-in-law and that the employee’s daughter was working as a prostitute in California.

A resident of Wakefield, Kenney — who was elected to a four-year term in 2010 and who on Monday said she intended to serve out the balance of it — has maintained that she is the victim of another witch hunt, noting that Babson and Sorenson were unsuccessful in two previous attempts to remove her from the county commission.

She has charged that both men have repeatedly violated the state’s Right to Know law, and yesterday, in a reply filed to Sorensen and Babson’s lawsuit, also said they had released non-public and exempt information to reporters and county employees; “acted outside of posted meetings on more than one occasion;” and have, among other charges, “hidden misuse of county monies.”

Kenney has asked that a judge remove Sorensen and Babson from office “for obstruction of another commissioner’s duties;” order the county to pay “all expenses of Commissioner Asha Kenney for frivolous and vicacious (sic) actions and suit” by Sorensen and Babson; in addition to “such relief as may be just and fair.”

Kenney is not seeking reelection to the Carroll County Commission but she has filed to be a Republican candidate for county register of deeds.